chapter four
just a kid from brooklyn

𝐏𝐄𝐆𝐆𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 Steve in the car. It was a big day; the procedure was happening today. The course of the war could change if everything went well and the man who could change history was sitting right beside her.

"Are you nervous?" she asked, looking over at him. He had been looking outside the window and turned when he heard her voice.

"Not really," he replied, shaking his head. "I surprisingly got a pep talk yesterday, so I'm feeling alright."

"A pep talk?" Peggy repeated, furrowing her brow. "From who?"

"Grace," he said. Peggy raised her eyebrows and looked out the window. "I don't know how she can think so positively of me when she barely knows me."

"Grace has that effect on people," Peggy told him with a smile. "Though, she has trouble being positive about herself. She tends to focus more on other people than herself."

"Why?"

The brunette shrugged. "It's just how she is." She looked over at Steve. "You two are more similar than you'd know. That's a good thing, might I add. Grace is the best person I've ever met."

"I'd love to get to know her more," Steve said.

Peggy smiled as the car stopped outside of an antique store. "Then you have impeccable timing, it would seem. This is it."

Steve followed her out of the car and he looked around, confused. "Why did we stop here?" he asked the agent.

"I love a bargain," she replied simply before walking inside. Steve followed her, still incredibly confused. The bell above the door rang and an older woman greeted them from behind the counter.

"Lovely weather this morning, isn't it?" she smiled.

Peggy nodded. "Yes, but I always carry an umbrella."

The woman eyed them before pressing a button under her counter. Peggy led Steve over to a bookshelf that quickly turned into a door. Steve glanced at Peggy and she walked inside. There was a marine guarding the door and he saluted as they passed.

Grace was standing with Colonel Phillips in the observation booth when the lab went silent. Everyone looked down to see Steve had arrived with Peggy and a light shone in his face. Grace rolled her eyes. "Just say he's a lab rat, why don't you," she muttered to herself.

She saw him take off his shirt, tie, and hat and handed them to a nurse. She turned away when she heard Phillips' voice.

"Senator Brandt," he said, shaking his hand. "Glad you could make it."

"Why exactly am I in Brooklyn, Colonel?" the senator asked and Grace internally rolled her eyes at the man. He was the exact type of person she despised. A man with an unlimited amount of power who abused it. Or, more specifically, used it as reasoning.

"We needed access to the city's power grid," Colonel Phillips said, answering the senator's question.

Grace turned back to look down at the lab. Steve was now laying in a capsule that was slightly bigger than him. He looked uncomfortable and nervous, yet no one offered any words of comfort, all too busy focusing on the history they were trying to make. She refocused on the people around her, hearing Phillips' voice once again.

"Of course, if you'd given us the generator I requisitioned..."

Senator Brandt frowned. "Lots of people are asking for funds, colonel." His face twisted into realization. "Oh, right, this is Clem..."

A man from beside Brandt stuck out his hand. "Fred Clemson, State Department," he introduced himself. Phillips glanced at Grace briefly and she shrugged. "If this project of yours comes through, we'd like to make sure it's used for something—" He eyed Brandt. "—other than headlines."

Phillips nodded as Brandt and Grace looked down at the lab. "Geez," he said. "Somebody get that kid a sandwich."

The brunette rolled her eyes as Peggy walked into the booth. "Grace." She looked over at the door. "Steve has asked to see you."

Grace knitted her eyebrows as several men looked at her. "Why?"

Peggy shrugged. "He said you reassured him last night and he needs some more. Your brother was asked about the flying car."

"Oh? And?"

"And it didn't reassure him in the slightest," Peggy replied. "It's you he wants to see. Apparently, you give good advice."

"You act so surprised," Grace quipped, passing her on the way out of the door. She walked down the stairs, swept past her older brother toward the capsule, and smiled seeing the blonde. "You summoned me?"

He looked over. "I didn't think you'd actually come."

"Well, when the man who is supposed to have a life-changing procedure asks for you, you make the time," she said with a smile. "Nervous?"

"Is it that obvious?" he asked, chuckling.

Grace shrugged. "Just a bit. If it's any comfort, you couldn't be in better hands," she told him. "Doctor Erskine is a brilliant scientist."

"And there's Howard Stark."

She nodded. "There's him, too."

"Oh, Gracie, you wound me," Howard said, slinging an arm around her. "I am just as brilliant as Doctor Erskine."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Not in this type of science, you're not. You're an inventor, Howard. He's a doctor. Get your arm off of me." She shook off his dangling arm and he walked away with a huff.

"I take it you two know each other?" Steve asked, having watched their interaction.

Grace let out a breath and nodded. "He's my older brother. Ignore any comments he says. He's not the greatest at comforting people. They wouldn't have done this if it wasn't safe, Steve. You're in the best possible care."

"I am?"

"Absolutely," she said with a nod. "I've met Doctor Erskine several times. He has a passion for this project. He wouldn't do it without absolute certainty that he could do it. And when you're finished, you'll feel like a new man." Steve smiled lightly. "Just promise me one thing?"

"What's that?"

"Don't change too much," she told him. Steve raised his eyebrows. "If everything goes according to plan, you won't look quite the same. But the person you are right now is pretty great. Don't let anything change who you are deep down."

Steve nodded. "I promise."

"Good." Grace glanced at Erskine and saw he was patiently waiting for her to finish. Well, as patiently as he could. "And that's my cue," she chuckled, sending him an apologetic smile. "I'll see you on the other side, then."

Steve smiled. "Thank you."

"Anytime... soldier."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 as Doctor Erskine tapped the microphone, sending a wave of electricity through the speakers. Everyone winced at the sound and looked down at the German scientist.

"Is this on?" Everyone sat down and Erskine began his presentation. "Ladies and gentlemen, this morning we do not take another step toward annihilation. Today, we take the first step on the path to peace."

Grace glanced down her row and saw Senator Brandt watching skeptically. She let out a breath and her eyes shifted back to Steve who still looked nervous, but when he caught her eye, he smiled and she returned it.

"I think he's taken a liking to you," Peggy whispered to her best friend, and Grace only frowned.

"He's nervous," she replied in the same hushed tone. "As he should be. This could very easily go wrong."

"You didn't tell him that, did you?" Peggy asked.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Of course not. I'm not Howard. It's science, Peg. Nothing is ever guaranteed."

"Still, he keeps looking over at you and his heart rate slows down," Peggy said, motioning toward the monitor beside him. "Face it, Gracie, you have a not-so-secret admirer."

Grace shook her head and returned to focusing on Doctor Erskine and his years-long project.

"We will begin with a series of micro-injections to the subject's major muscle groups," Erskine continued talking to the group in the booth. Howard and his workers were readying the machines. "The serum will cause immediate cellular change. In order to prevent uncontrolled growth, the subject will then be saturated with Vita Rays."

Erskine turned off the microphone and returned to Steve. Colonel Phillips turned to Grace. "Is this going to work or did I drag an entire group of very important men to Brooklyn for no reason?"

"Colonel, I never worked on this," Grace replied with a sigh. "But with Doctor Erskine and Howard's technology, there's a very good chance it will work."

"Is your machinery ready to use, at all?" he asked, passing the time while Erskine and Steve chatted for a moment and Steve was injected with penicillin.

Grace nodded. "If it's to your standards, yes. I could show you after the presentation if you'd like."

"Wonderful."

Peggy nudged Grace on the shoulder. "Look at you making weapons for the Army," she said with a proud smile.

"Don't make a big deal about this."

"But it is a big deal!" she replied with a pout.

Grace smiled softly. "Okay, it is a big deal."

Both of their attentions were taken when they once again heard Erskine's voice break through the speakers. "Beginning serum infusion in five, four, three, two... one."

Grace held her breath as the german doctor pressed a switch and several needles pierced Steve's skin. The blue liquid in the vials quickly emptied, inserting itself into the blonde's bloodstream. His veins began to swell and his head started shaking. Grace, subconsciously, grabbed Peggy's wrist and the English brunette patted her hand in comfort.

Erskine pressed another button and padded restraints surrounded Steve's head, keeping him still. He nodded and looked at Grace's brother.

"Now, Mr. Stark."

Howard pulled a lever and the entire capsule began to move upright so that Steve was now facing the group in the booth. Grace smiled softly at him before the sealing closed him inside. Erskine walked to a microphone.

"Steven, can you hear me?" he asked.

"It's probably too late to go to the bathroom, right?"

Grace chuckled, feeling relieved, and Doctor Erskine smiled. "We shall proceed."

Howard moved a step to his right and began turning a wheel. Everyone inside the lab put on their protective glasses and Grace held her breath.

"That's 10%," Howard said, watching the meter. "20%. 30. That's 40%."

"Vital signs are normal," a technician announced. Peggy glanced at Grace whose eyes were fixated on the capsule.

"That's 50%," Howard continued. "60. 70."

Suddenly there was a loud scream from inside the capsule and Grace's breath hitched. Peggy quickly left the booth while Erskine ran up to the capsule. "Steven! Steven!"

"Shut it down!" Peggy shouted from the stairs. She had no connection whatsoever to the blonde man in the capsule but felt inclined to spare him from more pain.

"Steven!" Erskine called again, not wanting to stop the experiment.

"Shut it out!" Peggy yelled again and Erskine nodded, turning to look back at the inventor.

"Kill the reactor, Mr. Stark!" he called. "Turn it off! Kill it! Kill the reactor!"

"No!" Steve said from inside the capsule. Grace let out a breath of relief that didn't go unnoticed by the colonel beside her. "Don't! I can do this!"

"Come on..." Grace muttered under her breath, her foot tapping in anxiousness.

Howard returned to the wheel and resumed turning it. "80%. 90. That's 100%." Grace held a hand in front of her, squinting from the bright light when there were suddenly sparks flying from all directions in the lab. She looked at Howard and sighed in relief, seeing he was unharmed.

Erskine walked forward slightly before turning back to Howard. "Mr. Stark."

Howard quickly pushed a button and the capsule opened. In the place of the skinny Steve that had occupied the spot a few minutes earlier, was a very muscular, and sweaty Steve.

"Oh, my God..." Grace let out a breath of relief and looked at Colonel Phillips. "He did it."

Phillips chuckled in disbelief. "Son of a bitch did it."

Peggy dragged Grace down the stairs in a hurry, nearly causing the two of them to fall down the steps, and walked over to the three men. Grace hugged her brother in congratulations while Peggy gave Steve his old clothes that now fit much tighter on his body.

Steve looked at Grace and she smiled at him from beside her brother. "I told you you were in good hands. How do you feel?"

"Taller."

Grace chuckled. "Yeah. Just a bit."

⸻ ~~~ ⸻

𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 her brother and Steve while Erskine was making his rounds to everyone who was congratulating him.

"So, how does it feel?" Grace asked Steve while Peggy and Howard started their own conversation. "Is being that tall just as you imagined it would be?"

He chuckled and shrugged. "I don't know yet. It's only been a few minutes. You should ask me in a few days."

"Oh, I will." She brought a hand up and ran it through his sweaty hair, pushing it away from his blue eyes. "It was still slightly messy."

"Please, do not smoke in here—" Steve and Grace both turned around, hearing Erskine's voice. The german doctor was looking at the representative from the state department she had met earlier. "No..."

He pushed a button and there was a loud explosion from the observation booth, sending glass shards into the lab. Phillips covered Senator Brandt while Steve pulled Grace away from the glass, standing in front of her. There was a sound of a pistol going off and Grace looked around Steve to see Erskine with three bullet wounds to the chest.

"No!" Steve cried. The man snatched the last vial and took off for the door. Peggy fired at him and managed to hit him in the leg, but he could still walk. Peggy ran after him while Steve knelt down beside Erskine.

Howard helped his sister off the floor and looked over her, checking for any injuries while her eyes remained fixated on Steve and the now-deceased scientist. Rage filled his face and before anybody could stop him, he bolted out of the lab and out into the street.

Grace knelt down beside the german scientist and gently closed his eyes so he looked to be sleeping. Howard wrapped an arm around her and she leaned her head on his shoulder. History had been made with the success of Steve's procedure but the only person who knew how to make the serum was gone. And with him, any chance of reproducing it.